'N.Y. Times' Revives 'Demanding Times' Branding Campaign

By: E&P Staff The New York Times is bringing back a tagline created more than 20 years ago for a new branding campaign that will focus on its reporters and editors at work, the paper said Friday.

The campaign -- with the tagline, "These Times Demand The Times" -- launches Monday, Sept. 18 to coincide with the beginning of the fall television season.

In the 30- and 60-second TV spots, the story of how news is reported is rolled out in reverse, beginning with the newspaper in a readers hands and working backwards through the news process to a reporter on the beat, the newspaper said. Other spots will highlight the role of editors, and reporters recalling memorable stories.

The Times said the spots will be available at an Internet "microsite" created for the campaign: TheseTimesDemandTheTimes.com. Friday afternoon, a note said the domain was still under construction.

The campaign focuses on journalism at a time when the newspaper's reporting has been under fire in recent years from some critics for its perceived failings in its coverage of the run-up to the Iraq war, to the Jayson Blair story fabrications that led to the departure of top editors, to the conduct of former reporter Judith Miller in the so-called "Plamegate" investigation.

Alyse Myers, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, The New York Times Media Group, said in a statement that the campaign is aimed at consumers and advertisers who "more than ever are searching for a trusted brand that reports the news with authority, accuracy and clarity."

The campaign positions the Times as a media choice that respects readers' intelligence and helps them "decide what really matters," while delivering a well-educated and influential audience in both print and online, Myers added.

"That's why the focus of this new campaign is about the quality of our journalism," she said. "Journalism is everything to The New York Times and we wanted our new campaign to reflect that essential point of differentiation."

The TV campaign launches with spots on morning and news magazine shows "Today Show," "Good Morning America," "60 Minutes," "20/20" and Nightline." Spots will also play during the season premieres of "Lost," "The Office," "Boston Legal," "Close to Home," "Grey's Anatomy," "Law and Order," "Crossing Jordan" and "Criminal Minds."

In addition to 60-second spots airing on local radio, the Times will publish a special 24-page insert kicking off the campaign in the newspaper.

The tagline was first used in the mid-1980's, the paper said.

This new campaign was created by an in-house team with outside consultants Michael MacNeil and Nat Whitten.

TV production work was done by the firm Partizan Production Company, under the direction of David Gaddie.